Marinebio.org is a website dedicated to educating anyone who is interested about marine biology and ocean conservation. The site has search features to find marine species, a news feed of relevant marine biology stories, a blog and numerous multimedia features. The site shows just how beneficial all of these aspects can be to a topic. The pages are packed with information but they are also eye-catching and fun to look at. The articles and entries are compelling and easy to understand for those who have no prior information.This website is an example of the way research and conservation foundations have turned to the internet for support. The web has become a central aspect for many organizations and an incredible tool for research. However, not every website has mastered the use of multimedia and other eye catching tools to really capture the interest of the reader.
Marinebio.org received over 620,000 visits in February 2008 and has over 13,000 subscribers to their online newsletter. The Plankton Forums, an online community devoted to questions and discussions from viewers, has 1500 members with special access to certain posting boards but also allows comments from any visitor to the site. There were over 50,000 posts in the month of February alone. These numbers are a good indication of the success the site has had in connecting to visitors and getting their message out to the public.
The origins of the website rest with David Campbell, the founder and president of the site. Since the site is a side project for him, he was unreachable for comment at the time this article was written due to outside commitments. Campbell was a member of the Cousteau Society as a child and had the opportunity to SCUBA dive on coral reefs from a very young age. These experiences showed him the wonder of the oceans and compelled him to protect them.
Bailey ClearThe original goal of the site was simply to share the wonder of the oceans with the public and teach them about marine life, according to Lawrence. The site evolved to be much more conservation oriented. There is now information on the species description pages that is incorporated from the IUCN Red List, a comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. There are also extensive links to conservation information, including information on global warming complete with video, habitat conservation and sustainable fisheries, to name a few.
The importance of spreading the word about the danger to our oceans is summed up on the site’s About Us page. “Humans and the ocean are inextricably linked. Yet the ocean is just beginning to be understood,” it says. “As our understanding of this vast and powerful force of nature increases we realize that in spite of its seeming invulnerability—the ocean and marine life are in real trouble. Marine conservation efforts are vastly outnumbered by the problems facing the ocean.”
Some of the strongest features of the site are the use of multimedia. The photo and video galleries are spectacular and extensive and showcase just how amazing the oceans truly are.
While the photos themselves are beautiful, the presentation is a little difficult to navigate. The galleries are set up with an automatic scroll through the thumbnails, but it is so sensitive that it is easy to shoot by the photo you want. The video galleries are packed, but it makes the page load slowly and it is hard to make more than one video play without reloading the page between them. There could also be a little more clarity in how to access the galleries from the home page.
Besides these technical glitches, the site has made use of this multimedia in exactly the most beneficial way for this topic. “Multimedia has been critical to the success of MarineBio,” said Lawrence. “Without the visual appeal we have through photos and video, we would not generate the traffic that we do.”
Another two features the site has made good use of are the news feed and the blog. Lawrence is the blogger for the site and tries to post about relevant and current topics. The latest post is titled, “Cetacean Investigation- Video series by earthOCEAN featuring Erich Hoyt.” Hoyt is the director of marine mammals for Marinebio.org and senior research fellow for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Other recent posts include a discussion on which fish are the best to eat for your health and for the environment, and a post on Valentine’s Day that included this silly video with a poignant message:
Lawrence says she also checks on other conservation websites’ blogs to see what they are reporting on. One she checks often is that of Greenpeace, the sometimes radical conservation society that is known for interfering in illegal whaling.
The news feed collects stories from Google News but also offers links to other marine biology news sites. The feed is split into different news categories, which makes it easier for the readers to find exactly the story they are looking for. If you want to find a story regarding coral reefs, it is simple to click the link and see the most recent hits for that term.
The Plankton Forums, as mentioned before, are an interesting addition, allowing people from all walks of life to discuss their interest or passion for the ocean. This is an excellent tool for networking and also for research. The open forum lets people post questions and get answers from experts whom they might not otherwise have been able to reach. Hoyt was asked to join the contributors to the site after he posted repeatedly on these forums.
The creators of the site have also recognized the importance of the web for research purposes.
“Many people are getting their news, ideas and even inspiration largely through the web,” said Hoyt who has also written 15 books about the ocean and is involved in numerous other sites, including http://www.russianorca.com/
Elisabeth Bentley, a senior biology major at Northeastern University, also thinks that online resources such as these are essential. “I think it’s a valuable tool to have everything at your fingertips,” she said. However, she recognizes the importance of books and journals as well.
“There’s a lot to be said for going and finding a hard copy,” she said. “It’s easy to believe everything you find on the Internet but you can be led down the wrong path.”
There are many pages offering other research alternatives, including relevant journals that can be found both online and in hard copy, as well as book recommendations. The books can even be purchased on the site, powered by Amazon.com, making it a one stop research source.
Marinebio.org has also incorporated pages for kids that include games, quizzes and links to other children’s marine exploration sites.
Marinebio.org
The site has resources for students and educators including job and scholarship postings. The students’ page includes camp and internship opportunities and an interview answering questions about careers in marine biology. The creators have included information for as large a range as possible without forgetting that the pages need to be eye catching and interesting.
“It seems like it is an introduction to marine biology because it covers so many things and covers them in depth,” said Hannah Stinson, coordinator for student and family programs at the New England Aquarium. “It seems like it was designed for people that didn’t have a lot of experience in marine biology, but I think it would also be a cool tool for people who are more fluent in it.”
Both Stinson and Hoyt think that there can be good use for Marinebio.org in school and other teaching settings.
“It's a fantastic resource and I often recommend it to high school students trying to decide if they want to have a career in some aspect of marine biology,” said Hoyt. “Usually they come back very excited. If they don't, then I am pretty sure this field is not for them.”
To keep up with changing times, Marinebio.org has continued to grow and change since its creation in 1998. This way, the editors of the site feel that they will be able to stay relevant to fulfill the needs of all of their viewers.
“We continue to develop the site as much as we can so that it continues to evolve as the best resource on the web for marine life science and conservation,” said Lawrence. She continued, discussing her goals, “What I’m planning for the immediate future…is to be clearer about presenting the problems (that threaten the ocean) and juxtaposing them to the solutions.”
Hoyt also has some desires for the site and added, “In terms of marine mammals and marine protected areas, I would like to find ways that more and more people could be involved and concerned about conservation.”
Although this website is very well put together and full of useful information, there are some changes that might benefit it.
“I would make the home page less busy,” said Tracy Hajduk, outreach coordinator for Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center. “It’s hard because it had so much information, and you want to look at it but I didn’t know where to click first. I did bookmark it, but I felt like there was too much, I can barely remember everything that’s on there.”
Hajduk also works with school groups and suggested that she might make better use of the site if she could navigate it more easily.
“There were a lot of side tabs,” Bentley agreed, adding, “It was kind of all there, all at once.”
Even with the few drawbacks, Marinebio.org proves to be an educational and useful site that has adapted to the growing need for interactive online resources. The site has made use of all of the newest technology and shows promise to continue doing so.
The site explains it best, “MarineBio is here to show you the wonders of the ocean and to show you the problems so that you have a better understanding of what's at stake and what needs to be done.”
Bailey Clear
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